The present invention relates generally to an ink jet apparatus and a waste liquid absorbing method each of which assure that an image having a high quality can be obtained on a printing medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ink jet apparatus for ejecting on the printing medium liquid having a function of undissolving a coloring material in ink prior to ejection of the ink.
The present invention is applicable to all kinds of instruments for which a printing medium such as a sheet of paper, unwoven fabric, a sheet of OHP film or the like is used. The applicable instrument is typically exemplified by an office machine and a mass production machine such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like.
An ink jet printing method is utilized for a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like for the reasons that a low level of noisy sound is generated, the ink jet method is practiced at a low running cost, an apparatus is easily designed with small dimensions, and an image is easily formed by using colored inks.
However, the ink jet printing system has the following specific problems to be solved.
(1) Since a printing operation is performed by ejecting ink droplets from an ink jet head to a sheet of paper, a sheet of OHP film or a similar printing medium, fine ink mist other than the ejected main ink droplets or ink mist ejected to the printing medium rebounds to an ink jet head, causing the ink mist to adhere to an ink ejecting port surface until a large quantity of ink mist get together around the ink ejecting port. In addition, when paper powder or a similar foreign material adheres to the fine mist, ink ejection is obstructed, causing ink droplets to be ejected in an unexpected direction. In an extreme case, ink droplets can not be ejected.
(2) Unless the ink jet head is continuously ejected for a long time inclusive of non-printing time, ink in the nozzle is dried due to vaporization, resulting in the nozzle being clogged with ink having increased viscosity or solidified ink. Thus, there arises a malfunction that ink is ejected in the warped state or no ink ejection is effected.
The ink jet apparatus is generally equipped with recovering means as means for solving the problems as mentioned in the paragraph (1) and the paragraph (2). Specifically, when no printing operation is performed, an ink jet head is capped with capping means for the purpose of preventing ink in a nozzle of the ink jet head from being vaporized and dried, resulting in the ink having increased viscosity or adherence to the nozzle. In the case that incorrect ejection is effected due to increased viscosity or adherence, foreign material which can not be removed by a blade adhere to the ink ejecting port surface, ink having increased viscosity in the nozzle is discharged by operating a suction pump connected to the cap so as to conduct recovering treatment for recovering normal ejection. Here, the discharged ink is sucked in a waste ink absorbing substance disposed in a housing of the apparatus via piping extending downstream of the suction pump.
A capacity of the waste ink absorbing substance is determined depending on the number of times of incorrect printings, the number of times of recovering operations, a quantity of ink squeezed or sucked every recovering operation or a quantity of ink mist discharged from the ink jet head, it is recommendable from the viewpoint of the whole structure of the apparatus that the waste ink absorbing substance is compactly designed to have a small capacity because it is expected that the position where it is disposed is not restricted, and moreover, it is fabricated at a low cost. However, if a capacity of the waste ink absorbing substance is set to a quantity originally required by the apparatus, there arises an inconvenience of maintenance that the waste ink absorbing substance is periodically replaced with a new one. On the contrary, when a waste ink absorbing substance having a required capacity is disposed on the apparatus, the waste ink absorbing substance is relatively enlarged, causing it to be fabricated at an increased cost, and moreover, the housing of the apparatus is enlarged in size. In this connection, a technology for minimizing a volume of the waste ink absorbing substance by utilizing vaporization of ink is disclosed on an official gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 22065/1982.
On the other hand, in the case that an image has insufficient water resistibility or a color image is formed on a printing medium that is called a plain paper with the aforementioned apparatus having an ink jet printing method applied thereto, a request for an image having a high density without an occurrence of feathering and a request for an image having no oozing of coloring substance among colors can not exist together, resulting in a quality of colored image being remarkably degraded.
In recent years, as a method of improving water resistibility of an image, ink containing a coloring material having resistibility against water has been put in practical use. However, since this ink does not still have sufficient water resistibility, and it is ink which is theoretically hardly dissolved in ink after drying, it has a drawback that ink is liable to cause a failure of ink ejection.
In view of the foregoing fact, a technology that transparent or translucent treatment liquid containing a coloring substance which is insoluble in a solvent adheres to a printing medium with the aid of an ink jet head directly before a printing operation is disclosed in an official gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63185/1989. However, with respect to this technology, the problem specific to the ink jet apparatus is applicable to a head for the treatment liquid, and when the treatment liquid is not ejected from the nozzle, there sometimes arises an occasion that water resistibility and a quality of image corresponding to the failure of ejection of the treatment liquid are remarkably degraded. For this reason, it is necessary that the head for the treatment liquid is equipped with recovering means in the same manner as the ink jet head.
FIG. 9 schematically shows by way of example the structure of a conventional ink jet apparatus which is equipped not only with recovering means for an ink jet head but also with recovering means for a head for treatment liquid. Here, each of a plurality of ink jet cartridges 1 includes an ink tank portion. A plurality of ink jet cartridges 1 each containing treatment liquid for making coloring ink and coloring material for printing insoluble are mounted or a carriage at predetermined positions. The carriage 3 is slidably supported a shaft 4 extending in the main scanning direction, and a driving belt 5 serves to transmit the driving force of the driving motor 6 for reciprocably displacing the carriage 3. A printing medium 11 is conveyed while its printing surface is flatly restricted by a platen 12. At this time, ink jet head portions 2 of the ink jet cartridges 1 mounted on the carriage 3 is projected downward of the carriage 3 to assume a position between two sets of conveying rollers (not shown) of the printing medium 11, and ink ejecting port forming surfaces of the ink jet head portions 2 faces to the printing medium 11 which is located in parallel thereto while comes in pressure contact with the guide surface of the platen 12. In addition, a recovering system unit 100 is arranged on the home position side located on the right-hand side in FIG. 9. A plurality of cap units 101 are arranged in the recovering system unit 100 corresponding to the respective ink jet head portions 2 of a plurality of ink jet cartridges 101. The cap units 101 can be raised and lowered in the vertical direction. When the carriage 3 is located at the home position, it is connected to the ink jet head portions 2 so as to cap the latter wherewith to prevent an occurrence of incorrect ejection due to increased viscosity or chemical fixing induced by vaporization of ink in the ink ejection port. A pump unit (not shown) is disposed in the recovering system unit 100. This pump unit serves to generate negative pressure when suction recovering treatment is conducted by connecting the cap unit 101 to the ink jet head portions 2. As the suction recovering treatment is conducted, the ink and the treatment liquid sucked from the ink jet head is absorbed in a waste liquid absorbing substance 103 via a tube 102 by driving the pump unit.
When suction recovering treatment is conducted with the ink jet apparatus as mentioned above, two kinds of materials, i.e, the treatment liquid and ink are present in the waste liquid absorbed in the waste liquid absorbing substance 103. However, when these two kinds of waste liquids are mixed with each other, the mixture has a nature that viscosity is increased. Thus, there arise the following problems.
(1) When both liquids are absorbed in a single waste liquid absorbing substance for the purpose of saving a space, increased viscosity or setting is caused with the result that it becomes difficult to absorb waste liquid in the whole waste liquid absorbing substance, and moreover, it is impossible to absorb the waste liquid at a high efficiency.
(2) When absorbing substances are provided separately for ink and treatment liquid so as to avoid increased viscosity of the waste liquid, cost is increased and an apparatus is enlarged in size. In addition, a replacement frequency is twice increased when the absorbing substance is saturated with the waste liquid.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet apparatus which improves the drawbacks inherent to the prior art and realizes an ink jet apparatus which includes a waste liquid absorbing substance in which waste liquid can effectively be held in the case that ink and waste liquid having setting/increased viscosity after completion of reaction are absorbed in a single waste liquid absorbing body substance.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet apparatus for pretreating to a printing medium with treatment liquid having a function of setting ink by using a first ink jet head, and for printing on the printing medium with ink by using a second ink jet head, wherein the apparatus comprises first recovering means for recovering an ejecting port of the first ink jet head, second recovering means for recovering an ejecting port of the second ink jet head, a waste liquid absorbing substance for absorbing waste liquid discharged from the first recovering means and the second recovering means, first waste liquid transferring means for transferring the waste liquid discharged from the first recovering means the waste liquid absorbing substance, and second waste liquid transferring means for transferring the waste liquid discharged from the second recovering means into the waste liquid absorbing substance, wherein a discharge end of the first waste liquid displacing means is located in vicinity of one end of the waste liquid absorbing substance, and a discharge end of the second waste liquid displacing means is located in vicinity of other end of the waste liquid absorbing substance.
It is acceptable that the waste liquid absorbing substance is formed in a U-shaped configuration, the discharge end of the first waste liquid displacing means is located in vicinity of one end of the U-shaped configuration, and the discharge end of the second waste liquid displacing means is located in the vicinity of other end of the U-shaped configuration of the waste liquid absorbing substance. It is also acceptable that the treatment liquid contains low molecular weight and high molecular weight cationic materials, while the ink contains an anionic dye or contains at least anionic compound and pigment. In addition, the ink jet head includes as an energy generating element an electrothermal transducer for generating thermal energy so as to allow a phenomenon of film boiling to appear in ink.
According to other aspect of the present invention, there is provided a waste liquid absorbing method for an apparatus for performing a printing operation by utilizing a treatment liquid having a function for setting ink as well as an ink, the apparatus including a waste liquid absorbing substance for absorbing the treatment liquid and the ink as waste liquid, wherein the treatment liquid and the ink are respectively absorbed in vicinity of the opposite ends of the waste liquid absorbing substance.
It is acceptable that the waste ink absorbing substance is formed in the U-shaped configuration, and the treatment liquid and the ink are absorbed in vicinity of the opposite ends of the waste liquid absorbing substance.
With the ink jet apparatus constructed in that way, since absorbing ends are separated in a single waste liquid absorbing substance so as not to allow both the waste liquids to be mixed with each other without an occurrence of chemical fixing, it is possible to elevate an absorbing efficiency, and minimize a volume of the waste liquid absorbing substance, and moreover, construct the apparatus compactly. Consequently, the apparatus can be constructed with smaller dimensions at a reduced cost. In addition, there is no need of replacing the waste liquid absorbing substance with another one or the number of times of replacing the waste liquid absorbing substance with another one can be reduced.
The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.